Today marks a rare celestial event, said to be the longest in the 21st century, as the moon is set to pass through Earth’s darkest shadow and take on a red sheen.

Today marks a rare celestial event, said to be the longest in the 21st century, which will see the moon pass through Earth’s darkest shadow and take on a red sheen.

The odd thunderstorm is expected over the Pennines today and tonight, with the north-west currently set to see rain in various areas this evening

Known as the ‘blood moon’, stargazers will be eagerly anticipating this event throughout the UK, but yellow weather warnings now threaten to spoil this.

Yellow weather warning have been issued by the Met Office for thunderstorms over various parts of the UK tonight.

These are expected to continue into Saturday, with a separate yellow weather warning for rain and wind on Sunday.

Moonrise is set to be at 8.49pm BST in London, 9.46pm in Glasgow, 9.02pm in Cardiff and 9.27pm in Belfast, with mid-eclipse occurring at 9.21pm.

The “total” phase is set to end at around 10.13pm.

However, warnings of thunderstorms and heavy rain threaten to cloud the chances of seeing this rare event in certain parts of the UK.

But will this be the same for Lancashire?

At the moment, the Met Office Yellow weather warning does not extend over into the north-west of England, which makes the chances of seeing the blood moon stronger than parts strongly impacted by the current weather warnings.

However, the odd thunderstorm is expected over the Pennines today and tonight, with the north-west currently set to see rain in various areas this evening.

This could make the blood moon more difficult to see, but skies are generally set to be mostly clear over the region.

For those eagerly waiting to see this highly anticipated event, the forecast for the north-west brings good news. Although the the lunar eclipse lasts for just 103 minutes, observers will then be able to take in a partial eclipse for almost four hours.